The End of The Legion
by Circletto
Summary: A young Kaldorei aims to become a Demon Hunter. It's too bad her foul attitude makes enemies out of everyone she meets. / An Illidari Commander has to deal with a trouble-making recruit until the end of the legion. (BITE-SIZED CHAPTERS FOR EASY READING!:))
1. Chapter I - A Late Introductory

The woman sat on the edge of the floating Isle known simply as " _Illidari Redoubt_ ". It wasn't a well-decorated space, but it served the Illidari Elves perfectly well as a teleportation pad to their actual base. She'd finally found them after so many years of tracking them down. Wondering how she would introduce herself, her mind wandered off into the distance. She could see the beautiful city that once belonged to her people. Suramar. Large buildings that out-scaled even the temple of the moon in Darnassus.

"Recruits!" A voice yelled from behind her. She quickly stood and made her way over to the group that was forming around the portal. The elf quickly looked them all over and then gestured towards the portal. One by one the elves filed through, but when it was her turn, she didn't budge. The elf looked down at her, his mouth in a scowl.

"Haven't seen you yet. You been recruited from elsewhere?" He asked roughly. She could imagine him glaring under that mask.

"Me? Recruited? You must be thinking of a different class." She scoffed proudly. "I honestly thought this to be a rehabilitation service, but I quickly learned that it's more of a self sacrifice kind of deal." The elf had stopped listening to her after the first few words and jabbed a finger towards the portal. Oh, this was just too easy.

"Just stop talking." He said, clearly in a bad mood. She could care less.

Either way, she did as instructed. When nearing the portal the woman didn't just walk through it, but she leaped through it instead. The feeling of your body distorting through the nether was never a comfortable one, so it was better to get it done quickly. Once she had snapped out of her temporal displacement issues, she looked around. The world was dark... and very, very green. Almost solemnly so. It wasn't the worst ship she'd ever stepped in, but definitely not the best. A little ways ahead she could hear the an official voice talking. Oops. She was already late to the briefing. Rather than join the recruits late and make a scene, she decided to stay above them, listening in to everything she needed to know. The Kaldorei officer speaking to the recruits looked very weathered. His body full of scars, and his hair sort of unkempt and messy. Like a grandfather, almost. He probably wasn't even aware of his appearance.

"...As some of you already know." He continued his speech. "We Illidari have sacrificed everything to protect this world. We have given up our bodies and even our souls for this fight against the Legion." He looked them all over, but didn't seem to notice the woman perched on the higher platform. He seemed almost disappointed at the group of twenty odd elves gathered there. "Now I will be honest with you. You will all be expected to give up your lives in a moments notice, so don't expect to survive long."

She felt a little bile gather in her throat at that but if she wasn't prepared to die she wouldn't have come. But evidently some of the recruits seemed squirmish as well. "That's even if you survive our ruthless training and your first taste of the fel." He paused to look around at them all again. She would describe his actions as a hawk circling for weak prey. "This speech is not meant to inspire you. You'll have your hatred of the legion for that. No. This is to remind you of the labour and cost that goes into this war. Now get to the lower deck and begin your training!" His voice was definitely commanding, as the whole batch of recruits scurried in different directions like rats. Once all the recruits were gone, she watched the officer shake his head and sigh. "They're doomed."

She really couldn't help herself at that point, and a large boisterous laugh escaped her. With the whole ship being sort of silent, all eyes were soon upon her. The serious officer sounded like he wanted them all to give up right then and there. Not an inspiring speech indeed! She hopped off the higher platform and onto the lower one a few feet below, then made her way over to the officer. She looked around but everyone in the room was still watching her. _Was I really that loud? Or, wait. Maybe it was because they all look so incredibly grave_. Looking over the grizzled Officer, she said nothing. Her aim was to annoy him with an act of silence.

The silence didn't last long as he looked her over. Well, if you could call it 'looking', since the Illidari didn't really _**have**_ eyes. "Alright, what are you here for?" The man asked her. There was a certain emphasis on the 'you' that she didn't quite enjoy.

Not changing her amused expression the woman simply said. "I give myself to the cause. So, it was the lower deck, yes? That crowd looked very depressed. Not that I can blame them; your speech wasn't exactly a mood lifter." When that didn't illicit a response from him, she continued. "Perhaps you should hire a gnome at this establishment. You people could surely use a punching bag or something." Her eyes travelled to one of the many demons they had chained up around the edges of the ship. "Never mind. I see you have enough punching bags. Perhaps a comedian instead?" She offered.

His eyebrows raised with amusement rather than the anger she was seeking. "Well, since you want to join we have you for the role of comedian." Ow. "So, why don't you head down and cheer up your fellow recruits?" He did seem to be considering something. Probably the gnome punching bag; they were so awfully verbal.

Not disheartened, she smiled. "Perfect. However I do charge a flat rate of fifty gold per laugh I cause." She took her leave, and found her way to the lower decks. It did take her a few long moments to figure out the layout of the ship but she did find her way eventually. Once arriving at the location, she saw several of the recruits already sparring. And an odd creature observing the fights. It looked like a shrivelled up Draenei male. Except it had three golden-painted toes and the gauntest face she'd ever seen. Eyes of emotionless blue pierced through her as she stepped towards the creature. "Another recruit, eh?" It cackled and then made a rather rude comment. "You are sort of small for a Night Elf."

"And you're sort of shrivelled for a Draenei." The words spewed out of her mouth before she had the chance to even think about what she had just said. Three enemies in one day, I've done worse.

"I am an Ashtongue Broken." The creature corrected her, it's voice passive. "Now fight."

She looked around for someone to spar with. Most of them had already found partners so she decided to take on a different approach. In the middle of the lower floor, an oddly designed ceramic pot held some smelly green liquid in it. There was enough room on the edge of the pot to stand on, however. So that is what she did. "Alright, which one of you sorry bastards wants to fight me?!" She called out to the group of recruits. Most of them ignored her, but one Sindorei quickly took the bait.

"And who are you to deem us bastards?" He grumbled at her.

"An even sorrier bastard." She shrugged. "Not as sorry as you'll be though."

With that, their fight began. He wasn't so tough due to his slow speed. And so she deftly dodged his continuous blows; all aimed for either her head or gut. This went on for a few minutes before the Sindorei grew tired of her toying with him. He threw a final punch at her arm; succeeding the hit, but not dealing any damage to her. He was worn out from expending all his energy before. Upon seeing her satisfied face, he glared. The fight picked up a little more after that, with the Blood elf using sneakier blows to catch her off guard; none of them really succeeding though. He felt as though she was holding back against him. It continued until they were stopped by a sudden loud shout.

The ashtongue draenei raised his hand, and the recruits saw the officer who gave them the speech was now standing with the trainer. He said something to the trainer, a smug look adorned on his constant scowl. "Seems like our 'comedian' has some skill after all." The trainer quickly took off up the ramp. The sound of chains unlocking promptly followed. The clinks and clunks made her skin crawl in anticipation.

As the trainer came back, the recruits stared wide-eyed at a felguard demon being forced into the lower deck. The ashtongue yanked on the chains and quickly began to explain the situation. "Commander Narruen has been watching you all spar and was impressed with-" He pointed at the woman who was already glaring at the Commander. "-That one there. Your new training partner is Tal'Gath, here. You have two minutes. Either survive the time or kill the demon."

She was pissed. As her Sindorei sparring partner was distracted, she promptly kicked him in the family jewels. He crumpled to the floor with a groan of pain and a curse directed at her. She ignored it. Her cover as an idiot was over anyway. She didn't hesitate to collect two training glaives from a rack on the edge of the room. The dull metal probably wouldn't do much against the demon, but she had to try anyway. She raised them up, prepared for the worst. She gave the Commander a polite stare, but with the way it looked it could be described more so as a tame glare. "So, when does it start? You blow a whistle or something, _Commander_?"

"Now." He ordered. And with that, the chains were dropped and the demon released. The rest of the recruits ran off to safety, leaving the woman to face the angry raging beast alone.


	2. Chapter II - Fight or Forfeit

Chapter II ; Fight or Forfeit.

"Oh fu-" The demon darted towards her. Forcibly cutting off whatever curses she could muster as she had to dive out of the way. The demon couldn't stop its charge and crashed into the wall, with a roar it turned to her and reached to grab her leg. She yanked it out of the large hand's grasp and hopped onto her feet. As Tal'Gath readied a punch, she had to think fast. Too few options remained available, so the woman was forced to dodge again. The demon was obviously not very intelligent; his main attack being punch after punch after... Well, you get it.

But a lack of intellect wouldn't stop the beast from killing her of course. So the woman dodged as many punches as she could; it was inherent that her breath was running out. Perhaps enraging the demon further would give her an opening. "Oh, please." She huffed as a fist ever-so-nearly whisked past her chest. "If you're just going to punch me the whole time, your maker should have called you Tal'Wrath!" Perhaps she should have been hired as a comedian. The demon quickly changed paces, its expression changed to one of pure rage. She had succeeded in making it more angry, at least. It raised a beastly fist to the sky, and used all its force to bring it down on top of her; but all it hit was the ground. The woman was already behind the creature; since it was bent down she could now climb onto it. Digging one of her glaives into its back as a climbing pick, she hopped onto a mighty shoulder. Failing to pull the glaive back out again, she curses.

But that time was all the demon needed to shake her off. Luckily she landed on her feet. Unluckily she only had one glaive left. "Curses again!" She looked around, noticing the Commander was gone and the trainer looked sort of shaken. _Guess he was already bored of the murder show he ordered,_ She ran for another set of practice glaives, and the demon was slow to catch up. Now with some range between the two of them-

"Hold." The Commander said loudly as he returned to the lower deck. Both demon and woman looked up with the same angered expression. But the demon's anger quickly subsided as the Commander slid a large axe in its direction. It spun across the floor until Tal'Gath picked up with an evil grin. The woman's eyes widened. _He really does want me dead._

Tal'Gath charged with reinforced vigour, his axe swinging wildly towards the woman. Of course she did try and dodge it multiple times. But eventually she was cornered near a wall and the edge of the axe sliced into her. She gave a grunt, and quickly felt for damage. It had sliced through her armor, but not deep enough to cause serious damage. In spite of that- with the amount of blood coming out she was sure nobody could tell the difference. So she turned on her acting abilities.

"Oh gods!" She cried out, clutching her wound and falling to the ground. She kept an eye open to see what the demon would do. And it did hesitate at first. Even so, that hesitation quickly vanished and he moved to his hand to try and pick up the wounded Kaldorei woman. He was too slow, though. The woman wriggled out of his grasp once more and gashed her remaining glaive into its neck as the demon was kneeling down. She ripped the glaive through his flesh knowing full well it wouldn't be enough to deal significant damage.

Even then, the loud guttural howl the demon gave definitely warned her about the damage she had done. There was also the green blood pouring from his neck wound. Before he could grab her a third time, she combat rolls into a sprint to get some distance. The woman spotted a large amount of glaives docked into their racks nearby so she started to pick them up and throw them at the hulking demon. None of them did significant damage. One can easily throw a sharp object, but it's the skill of throwing it to hit the target with the sharp end that really mattered. When he got decidedly too close for comfort, she picks up two glaives and dashes towards him before he can swing the axe. This time she hits the target, and buries the glaives into a thick, muscled wrist. His large hand was now hanging from a few pieces of gross flesh.

In pain, he forced the end of his axe into the elf. The woman went flying into a wall, her side feeling poorly crushed. Despite her own pain, she stands. "Curses thrice." She says as her weight nearly betrayed her.

The demon -now holding his axe in his intact hand- bellowed and charged forth to finish her. "I AM OF THE LEGION!"

Tal'Gath had made it about three steps before collapsing to the ground in front of the woman. Wide-eyed, she stared at the two golden glaives sticking out of his back. Then she stared again at the Commander who was directly behind the demon corpse.

"As much as I would have liked to have seen the finale..." He began, lifting his blades out of Tal'Gath. "Your time is up."

She said nothing and just stared, incredulously. He continued. "You didn't die, so you pass." And with that, he began to walk away. "See the Matron Mother to heal those wounds of yours. Everyone else; back to sparring!"

The recruits didn't hesitate, in fear they would have to face a demon next. The ashtongue trainer walks over to the woman; her breath a little shaky. She herself wasn't sure if it was rage or just fear from almost dying. She couldn't bring herself to care which it was, either. "So you lived through that. Good. Survival is more important than mindless slaughter." He told her. "The Matron Mother is above us on the main floor. Can you walk?"

The woman glared at the trainer, and limped over to the ramp leading above. It took her longer than she would have liked to admit. She gave a sneer to the Sindorei she fought earlier. "See?" She spat. "Told you I'm the sorrier bastard." He ignored her and followed the rest of the recruits. _Fair enough_. She slowly walked up to the main floor, glaring at every chained up demon she could see. She'd pay the Commander back for that one in fact- No, it wasn't best to murder him among his own people. Then she'd certainly die as well. Arriving in view of everyone on the floor, she was greeted with whispers and silence. All except for one tall demon lady who beckoned for her with one out of six hands.

"I'm the Matron Mother, dear." She tells the young woman, well, all Elves looked young so it was rather hard to tell.

"So you heal these assho-" The woman caught herself. "This group of well behaved cultist individuals?"

The six armed lady nodded, and shooed a rather content looking Illidari off of a stretcher. When he was gone, she pulled the stretcher towards the woman. "Take a seat."

She did so with a sigh. "Your Commander is an ass." _Crap, why did I say that to this lady,_ She thought. But the Matron Mother didn't seem to mind.

"He is rather a grump at times, yes. Lately even more so." She put a hand on the axe wound. "I did see him pit you against that Mo'arg demon. But from my knowledge he was just testing you." A faint light radiated from the hand; and the elf grimaced at the warm sensation of her flesh searing back together. She laid back on the stretcher as the demon used two other hands to heal her sides. The pain retreated fast. So it wasn't long before the Matron Mother was done her job. "Oh, I think you cracked a rib." A hand quickly went back to her side to heal that too.

The elf glared. " **I** didn't. That _**ass**_ did."

With that, the demon let out a giggle. "You know. I think you could do me a favour." The magical tendril found the rib injury in that moment, and the elf gave out a tiny squeak of shock as it got to work.

"What favour could I possibly do for a six armed demon?" The elf said between pained breaths.

"It's about our grumpy Commander. He could use someone to cheer him up." She explained softly.

The woman glared. "Unless there's eighty barrels of ale coming my way- I'm not doing **anything** for that ass."

"Well," The demon put a hand on her hip. "That can be easily arranged. So. Are you in?"

The elf waved her hand at the Shivarra. "Fine. I'm in." She did feel a lot better after the healing. Guess mortal healers just weren't as powerful as demon ones. Or maybe it was just that this demon was strong as fel.

"Perfect. You can rest here until tomorrow. The rest of the recruits will be training until sunset." The demon walked away with her sultry flair as the elf closed her eyes and quickly drifted off, readying herself for the hard days to come.


	3. Chapter III - Last Chance to Run

Chapter III; Last Chance to Run.

She awoke to the buzz of people stirring; clinks of chains and metal footsteps all around her. The Illidari were preparing for their usual routine of training, feasting, and probably more training. She didn't care. Sliding off the stretcher and onto her own feet, she looked around. In the middle of the room near the weird crucible was Commander Ass. He seemed to be deeply involved in whatever he saw through the swirling green mixture inside it. She approached him as silently as her mortal form would allow. As the Commander suddenly looked towards the ceiling, her own eyes followed. What she saw was the corpse of a horrifying winged demon lady hanging from a chain high above them. She gagged at the sight of it, giving away the fact she was there.

The Ass turned around, explaining himself. "She was a rather annoying one. Cocky, selfish, arrogant... and powerful. Wasn't my idea to hang her there, though." She glared at him, so he continued of course. "However it does boost morale."

She quickly assumed that the only one who got the morale boost was him. "I'm going to ignore that foul decor, then."

He shrugged. "Well then, if you are all healed and rested; head down to the lower deck. There's more training to do before I let the ritual commence."

"Wow. _Commanding_ me already, huh?" She muttered as she left and found her way to the lower deck. While on the ramp, Malevolence stopped her. Without saying a single word, the demon patted the young Kaldorei on the head with one of her many hands... and then walked away. She wondered if that was special treatment or just an overly mothering demon at play. Either way... it concerned her. There was one thing she knew well; never trust a demon. The only person she could trust on Azeroth was herself.

She walked down slowly, wondering why the Commander was so boring and then wondering even more about her own behaviour. Her one goal was to have complete and total control over herself. Yet, there she was, hands shaking with rage and her mind on fire with thoughts of how to piss off everyone in the demon-addled ship. But alas, she couldn't get away with anything unless she raised her rank somehow. She'd been a trainee before, and being at the bottom of the barrel was annoying. Once the elf reached the lower deck, she saw two other high-ranking demon hunters by the Commander. Her lingering gaze revealed a dozen chained demons behind the three. The kaldorei could feel a cold sweat gathering on her forehead. *Already?*

The Commander looked bored, as if it was his sixtieth time doing the ritual in one day. He spoke up after waiting for the recruits to become attentive. "Alright... This is your **last** chance to turn away. The next step to becoming a demon hunter is one that you **cannot** turn back from. Once done; there is **NO** turning back. Do I make myself clear?" The recruits all nod, except for the troubled one. "Good. The next step is to kill a demon, eat its heart and drink its blood. Once done, then the real ritual begins. Some of you will go insane. Some of you will die. Yet all of you will gouge out your own eyes in a fit of madness at the end. If you survive, you will be healed up and given your tattoos. These are runes that will keep the demonic energy inside you under your control. Leave now if you do not wish to go through with this."

The woman eyed the Sindorei she had beaten up earlier. He looked as though he was going to leave, but then his expression hardened and he surprised her by staying. "I'll ask your demon to sack you, then?" She asked loudly to make sure everyone in the room heard. She saw a few snickers after the elf covered his family jewels with a hand and that was enough to make her satisfied. Still grinning, she went back to her thoughts. Some more Illidari were called onto the deck, and did their part in drawing a large runic circle on the ground. A fighting ring? She presumed that was the case, especially as some nicer glaives were brought in. So the runic fighting ring would be so the fight doesn't get out of control... but that would mean there would be no place to run for cover in case the fight went badly. Wondering who would be called up first, the woman slunk back with a sigh in hope to Elune that the Ass wouldn't pick her out of spite. Sure, she was a bit of a troublemaker. And sure, she was deliberately trying to piss him off... but that wouldn't warrant an early execution again, would it?

"You are all staying? Is this bravery or stupidity? Your survival will determine the answer." He points at a nervous-looking kaldorei male and yanks the poor sod up into the front. There was no way the kid would survive. Luckily, the Ass wasn't completely cruel and pit the guy against a simple imp. The fight was over fast and the kid was promptly speared with magic and hoisted off. A success? She couldn't tell. The next few were called up; one ended up killing his demon but before they could help chain the demon inside- he ran off the edge of the ship only to fall to his death. The next one lost the fight. The one after that burned up in green flames after consuming the heart of a felsaber... but then things went a little smoothly for a while. Eventually the only trainee remaining was the young woman. She coughed to cover up the foul word that almost escaped her mouth.

"Well, I guess it's all eyes on me now. Not that you all mind since... ya know, no eyes-" A hush from a nearby enforcer shut the woman up fast. Little did they know she was only talking to calm the hammering in her chest. It barely helped. "So what kind of demon will I be up against?" She asked the higher-ups, not eyeing the Commander. The man and woman thrust a giant, six-armed demoness into the ring. "Oh. Lucky me." (Roughly translating to; Oh, fuck. I'm dead.) She rolled her eyes and took the glaives that were then handed to her. After taking a deep breath, she dashed into the ring of her own volition.

The Shivarra had no weapons, so that was already a huge advantage she had against the even larger demoness. The Shivarra made an effort to stomp the woman; but the elf was prepared and combat rolled out of reach. She waited for the demoness to initiate again before going in with the glaives raised and ready. Luckily, the Shivarra tried to grab her as the next move. The young woman easily sliced the arm, but lacked the strength to completely chop it off. The demoness howled in pain; it was very convincing. "Oh please, you're not scared of death or pain. You're scared of being locked up with me for your eternity. Don't worry, though. I'll be a pretty good host as long as you are an orderly guest." She tried to dash at a lower arm, but the demoness caught the elf and threw her onto the ground. She smashed into the hard metal of the ship's deck and her vision went blurry. But she didn't have time to lay around and wait for someone to save her. With an audible whimper, she used the glaives as weights to stand back up. The demoness didn't wait for her before attacking again. The young woman barely volted out of reach, she had to deal with the fight quickly or there would be no way to win. She sidestepped into range of the legs and once the demoness kicked, she dived for the stable leg and slashed behind the knee. Dark liquid seeped out of the wound and sloshed onto the floor, and the eight foot tall giant came crashing down. The woman used this as her chance to slice the rest of the arms off; rendering the fight won. Heavily panting, she dug the edge of her glaive deep into the Shivarra's chest until she found the circular and squishy part that was needed. Managing only three bites, the elf began to choke as she swallowed. It felt as though the demon was trying to claw its way out of her. Her eyes frantically searched for something to keep it down; and that's when she noticed the blood pooling around. Without hesitating, her hands cupped the dark, disgusting liquid into her hands. She poured it down her throat only to feel it burn like that one goblin drink she tried once. "Fucking fel!" She cursed out loud as the flesh continued to escape her stomach.

As the Kaldorei suffered in her endeavor of keeping the demon down, some enforcers began to chant. Loudly. She felt pain in her ears, and every flash of light caused a pain in her vision. Trying to resist screaming in pain proved futile. From pain alone she could barely think straight. While delirious, she couldnt see the orbs of magical fel energy being summoned around her. She only noticed when the orbs shifted into spears that were cackling menacingly with fel magic. Without warning or a chance for her to avoid them- the magical spears were violently pierced through her and held there. It wasn't a physical pain, as the spears weren't actually physical... They were shackles to keep the demon inside of her. The small elf bawled in agony as the demon tried desperately to escape her; but failed. With a final shudder of anguish, the kaldorei collapsed.

Not moments later, she awoke into pure darkness. Screaming and crackling fire lit up the darkness and filled it with sound. Startled, she realized where she was. Home. Before the Legion invaded. "No." She stated firmly as her heart closed and her expression hardened. She turned away from the burning house and stared directly at the Shivarra who appeared. "I will **not** live through that again. And Elune be damned; if you make me live through it again I will torture you so mercilessly you'd wish for death." The elf spat at the gound before slaying the demon again swiftly. She repeated the ritual over and over again, killing the demon, eating its heart, drinking its blood. It seemed like an eternity until finally the desperate question escaped from the Shivarra's lips.

"Join us. The Legion would welcome you with open arms, **Akharis.** " The elf shivered after hearing her own name.

"I. Refuse." She killed the demoness one last time, and then everything turned dark and cold. Akharis opened her eyes to see she was back in the fel hammer... but that peace and acknowledgement didn't last long. Suddenly, her perception shimmered and as if a dream had shattered, the poor elf was overcome with visions. They were relentless; worlds being destroyed, the full force of the legion at work. And the worst part was watching her alternate selves dying. Over and over again. Everything the legion did and was going to do threw itself into her mind without showing any signs of slowing. It wouldn't stop. She couldn't make it stop. She felt herself getting weak as her husband was killed in front of her hundreds of times over. In a fit of pure terror, she reached for her eyes in the physical world. And then passed out, her fight won. If you could call it that.

The Commander looked over the unconscious woman. Her eyes were freshly gouged out and he watched as they began to flicker with fel magic. He gave a nod to the Illidari that were keeping the chant going, and they came to a stop at his order. He stopped them before they inked her skin with the demonic tattoos that would keep the demoness at bay. "She's strong enough to endure for now; and definitely earned the right to pick her own markings once awake. If it looks like the demon will win before she awakens, continue." With that order, he goes up the ramp onto the upper deck where the Matron Mother was waiting for him. A clear displeased look on her face.

"Yes?" He asked her.

"Really, dear. A Shivarra?" Malevolence frowned.

"It was the last one."

"You got to pick."

He sighed. "It was fitting for her. And now, if anything, the two of you now have a lot more in common."

The demoness sighed back, but with worry over annoyance. "You know how hard it is to bind one of my kind. We are... Persistent."

"I'll make it up to her."

"Trust me, Commander. You had better."


	4. Chapter IV - Alcohol and Elves

Chapter IV ; Alcohol is a Kaldorei's Best Friend.

A few hours later, Akharis awoke in total darkness again. She felt beads of sweat adorning her skin as her mind continued to be plagued the demoness inside her. It was as though a voice was constantly speaking to her, praying on her darkest desires to do cruel and evil things. With a cry, the elf lurched up. She had ripped her own eyes out to stop the visions, just as the Commander had warned her. But she couldn't rip out her own mind to get the Shivarra to cease talking to her. Unsteady hands reached for a glaive to knock herself out and make the voice stop, but a large hand grabbed her own. She could make out the fuzzy green outline of the Matron Mother but couldn't think of anything to say. Which was rare for Akharis. Focusing a little more, a few colours lit up her vision. It still wasn't enough to compare to her old sight, but it would have to do. Malevolence gestured to the enforcers in charge of tattooing, and they quickly rushed over.

One of the enforcers began to explain. "It'll take some time to process what happened to you... But in order to keep that demon inside of you, we'll have to rune your body. The Commander said you should pick your own markings-" His polite explanation was cut short.

With her vision suddenly bursting red with her anger, she interrupted the man's talk. "So, what? I get to pick any colour under the magical fel rainbow?" The voice came out louder than she would've liked it to.

The enforcer backed off with a "Uh..." sound. He evidently was not used to fresh Illidari being so aggressive. In fact he was used to them being cold, brooding and whiny. "Yes, and also the shape of them-"

"-Red." She cut him off again. "And I cant see it so who cares what you do." With a growl, she lied back down on the stretcher. The enforcers then began to carve magic into her flesh. It didn't hurt as much as she thought it would, or maybe she was still in so much pain that nothing could hurt her. Regardless, the elf had to turn around a few times for them to reach her back and sides properly. Once done she just laid there in silence. The voice had quietened down enough for her to hear her own thoughts clearly. It was a brief moment of bliss. She sat up again after they placed the cloth wrappings over her freshly carved skin. A few moments later and colours began to fill in and her vision was almost... back to normal? She could see almost everything but it was as though a thin film was clouding over her vision. Akharis took the chance to look at her own appearance. Sure enough there were changes, her skin had darkened into a more pronounced purple like the Shivarra she had consumed. For a kaldorei, it wasn't an unusual shade. She could deal with that change. The red tattoos were glowing through the cloth wraps and they didn't look terrible at all. With a sigh, she brushed her hair away from her face. Except it quickly sprung back as if... Lifting her hands to her head, she found out that those were indeed horns on her head. Luckily they were small and she could hide them under a hood if needed. "So. What next?" She asked loudly. "Can't be worse than this..."

. . . . . . . .

After an hour of her yelling at the enforcers for telling her "You can't leave until all the other recruits were ready", she embraced silence once more. Since her eyesight was still fuzzy, Akharis couldn't tell with certainty why they had all gone so quiet. At least until she heard a man's voice praising her. "So. I'm officially impressed. Not only did you survive, but you are also awake." The outline of the man showed he was kneeling as to not look down on her. "How do you feel?" Her vision started to clear.

The kaldorei's ears went a shade of deep purple after seeing it was the Commander. "Fine-" Wait. She quickly switched tones. "Nope. Not fine. Definitely terrible." She laid back down on the stretcher feigning illness. "Healers, am I going to die? ...Only a swig of sweet alcohol will save me now..." Her voice was overly dramatic and the Shivarra healers just left the scene after chuckling. When they were out of sight, she stared at him. "But seriously, what's next? This demon you chose for me wants to slay everything in sight so I'm in that mood. Not because of her, mind you. Just mindlessly slashing something would be extremely therapeutic. Oh! Did that wimp of a blood elf make it through alive?" Akharis said it all really fast as she sat up again.

He sighed trying to decipher the language that was bombarded at him. "Okay. Hold on. Firstly, I need to know your name. Secondly, once you get used to your new sight I can give you a mission. Thirdly, there are drinks upstairs and finally... No. He didn't make it." The Commander's expression read specifically _'If she can slay as fast as she speaks then I'm really in trouble.'_

Akharis glared. "Hmph. It better be alcohol." With that, she stood up and headed toward the ramp moodily. She forgot to mention her name due to the mention of drinks. An ordinary person would not be able to walk so smoothly after such a life-threatening ritual but she didn't feel like resting at all. With the increase in her muscle mass, the elf felt as though she could take on the whole of Azeroth. When she entered the upper deck, her eye sockets widened and she snatched a mug from another demon hunter's hands. She almost forgot she was half demon until she noticed the liquid in the mug was as dark as night. She sniffed it suspiciously and then physically recoiled. "By Elune! This is the most rancid liquid I've ever smelled." She paused, rethinking the statement. "Actually, no that would be the demon blood I had to drink earlier."

"Alcohol is over there." The Commander had followed her and she didn't even notice. Pretending she knew he was there, she looked where he was pointing. Two elven women were standing by a bunch of supply crates and barrels. Akharis walked over to the edge of the ship and poured the black liquid out of the mug before taking a whole bottle of rum from a crate. Popping off the lid with newfound ease, she took a few gulps. "Ah, this is the stuff." One could assume she had not had a drink that good in a while. After taking a few gulps she leaned over and muttered. "I really did it, didn't I? And now there's no going back.. _I knew that._ " Realizing the Commander might hear her doubt, the elf spun around and grinned. "Anyways, I can see fine. And if I can see; I can fight. Just let me at one of your imps, okay?" She knew the exact one she wanted to brutally slaughter.

Instead of shutting her down immediately, he chuckled. "How about this. There are plenty of demons on Mardum- this world we are currently on. You and I can go cull their numbers. I'm sure there are plenty of imps."

The fel fire in her eyes brightened up. "Anything to kill those annoying little-" She winced and pointed at her head. "I just need to kill demons. It'll shut this one up." He doesn't say anything so she just drinks some more. "When are we leaving?"

"Now." And he took off towards a docking station where there were a bunch of large fel bat mounts. She gave a mental cheer. He wasn't a complete ass after all!

"Alright~" Akharis cheerfully skipped over to the Commander and fel bat trainer. He quickly mounts up on one of the bats and waits for her to do the same. As she grabbed one and the trainer helped her saddle it- he began to give her the rundown.

"Follow me and remember; The more demons you kill, the stronger you become. But you aren't immortal so don't put yourself in a fight you cant win."

She failed to roll her eyes. "I have a deal to keep. I wont be dying until it is completed." Wait, shit. Was he not supposed to know about the deal? Oh well. He doesn't know what it's about at least. Once the bat was ride-able, she leaped onto its back and held onto the makeshift handle. It was extremely uncomfortable. "But I'll keep what you said in mind."

"Good. My final tip is that stronger demons can give you new powers and abilities." And then without much warning, his bat dived off of the ship and flies down below. Though her sight was still fuzzy at times, she could see him through the ship. She tapped her bat to take off. It did, but it also seemed to do it begrudgingly. "So don't put yourself in danger- but if you do, you get buffed? Ugh. Everything about these Illidari is so conflicting." She went quiet and held on for dear life as the overgrown demonic bat dived off the ship's edge. It wasn't too much of a flight/fall to the bottom where he was waiting for her. But on the way down she stared in disgust as the lower cliffs held thousands of lesser demons below.

Her fel bat landed, but the Commander was already heading towards a path leading to the demons. He seemed determined and entered an underground lava inlet where several spider demons dangled off of the rock cave roof. Luckily the fel bat's saddle contained a pair of neatly designed warglaives. Akharis grabbed them and followed him at a safe distance. She heard him mutter something before he took out his golden glaives and swung them boomerang style at some nests and hanging spiders. They fell, and he continued to annoy them until a large amount were very pissed off at him. Amused, she holds back a smile. Not unlike my own tactics. She unsheathed her better-than-recruit glaives. But she still stayed back a little rather than following him in combat. A mantra kept her in line; _Eighty barrels of ale. Eighty barrels of ale. Eighty. Barrels. Of. Ale!_

The Commander looked back at her, impressed with her non-reckless decision. Then he turned around and rushed the demonic horde with his glaives glowing fel green. The first wave of demons made to dogpile on top of him, and Akharis almost thought they'd managed to. But in the last moment, she saw the Commander twist his body ever so slightly and then BOOM! He caused a large explosion of green fire to erupt from him. The spiders go flying and crashing into walls and other demons. Her jaw dropped a little as she watched small purple orbs fly from the corpses and hover above the ground. Any demon who dared get close to the man burned up savagely with more purple orbs arising from them. The second wave finally formed, and a larger spider demon thew a web net around the demon hunter's feet to hold him in place. Akharis wondered if she should intervene, but decided against it after seeing his annoyed expression. He held his glaives in an X position and all of the orbs around him suddenly flew into him. His body glowed bright green and purple before releasing a second explosion to expel from him. The second wave went down and released more orbs. The fight continued like that. Demons got too close, demons got burned or stabbed, orbs released, Narruen would suck up the orbs and replenish his energy before killing everything around him. Eventually the rest of the demons escape through a hole and into the ridge below to join up with the rest of the demon army.

Since it was safe to now go over, she does so. "H-how did-" Wait. No. She took a breath. "So you take in those demon souls and then gain enough strength to keep fighting them? Relentless. Okay." She raised her glaives in preparation. I can do this. I've been trained with glaives. "So are you giving me free reign or should I just jump in when I feel like it?"

He raised a brow. "Stay close enough so that I can help you if you should need it. Other than that, you have free reign." The Commander gestured to the world around them. "Have fun. Just be careful."


	5. Chapter V - Guilty as Charged

Chapter V ; Guilty as Charged.

Akharis gave a nod to the Commander and tried to focus her sight on anything large. Unfortunately she couldn't see anything other than the army of demonic spiders beneath them. "Well. I'll start there." One hop at a time, the elf made her way down the ridge. Spotting her quickly, the first group of spiders began to crawl speedily towards her. After raising a glaive, she rushed at their direction. She moved way faster than her body had anticipated. "Shit- I'm so damn fast. No wonder the legion has been suffering..." Briefly dashing around like a madwoman, the fresh Illidari decided she was definitely faster than she used to be. With that conclusion, she rushed back to the spider demons who were confused at her actions. Clucking screeches were declared as battle cries as the demons scuttled at her. _So if I'm faster..._ She bolted into the group of demons, ducking and weaving while carefully minding pincers and poisonous chomps. One by one they fell until all that was left were those purple orbs the Commander had consumed during his demonstration.

He suddenly hopped down next to her, being careful not to touch any of the orbs. "Soul fragments. We absorb them and regain our strength as well as heal our wounds. Absorbing a demonic one will give you a temporary boost in strength." He gave her a look of ' _Try it_ '.

Clearly hesitant, she reached out slowly until her hand grasped around the purple smokey, swirling sphere. Triggered by her touch, the orb sucked into her skin. It looked odd to her. But she felt her strength quickly returning and her brawn exceeding its previous capacity. The sensation of the process was weird. Not only did it feel like heat had enveloped her, but her purple hands were also glowing green with magic. It was even more concerning to her because she had never been able to use magic before. After the effect wore off, it took her a few seconds to grab the rest of the orbs. She could've sworn the Commander sighed at her.

...No way! Her fiery sight landed on the outline of an imp behind a large group of rocks. It only took the sight of the demon for her mind to erupt with dark, maniac thoughts as she dashed towards the sorry bastard. With each leap, she felt stronger and faster. Especially as she jumped over the top of the imp who gave a cry of 'Ooooh tasty meat!'. Then she quickly crushed it with her boot and then toyed with it until it stopped talking. The imp torture calmed her nerves that were working on overtime. When she turned back, the Commander was staring at a rock. _?_

As the strength boost faded due to her overuse on the imp, she threw it into a a sharp rock and lit the screeching imp on fire with her newly found magic. It continued to screech as it burned. "I will burn **all** of you little bastards." She promised. Once the imp had disintegrated, the trainee walked over somewhat gracefully to her superior. Akharis had to wonder why he was so enthralled with the rock. "What ya doin'?" Her mouth didn't have a filter when it needed one. Even more so when the situation demanded silence of her.

"Harvesting." Came the gruff response. Then he knelt down to pluck some leaves out of a crack in the rock. He seemed chuffed with himself as he placed the leaves carefully into a tiny pouch. "You poured my tea off the side of the ship. Now I need more tea leaves."

She didn't feel an ounce of sorrow about her action. "That shit was nasty. You can't call _that_ tea?" Her expression twisted as she remembered the smell of the black liquid. "How long have you been drinking that garbage?!"

He stood up and brushed the dirt off of his leather armour. "A few thousand years, give or take. I haven't been on Azeroth a long time so I've had to make due with whatever I could." The Commander shrugged. "Be lucky we were able to restock on rum." When he looked back up at her, an unsatisfied sigh escaped his lips. Akharis mimed sipping tea and then puking is up.

She quickly tried to change the subject to get the image of an Illidari Commander brewing his own demonic tea out of her mind. "So how fast do these spiders breed? There must be several thousand just here alone."

"Fast. But we've killed their Queen and King so they are completely without leadership. The queen was the demon you gagged at earlier, and the king..." He gestured at a cave in the distance with an endless amount of green fire spewing out of it. "Well, he'd been disposed of. At the moment we let these demons live so we can train new recruits on them or use them from Jace's rituals."

She almost felt bad for the creatures. But they were demons, so she didn't feel bad enough to stop. "I see..." Shit. "Wait, no I don't. No eyes." Akharis sounded extremely bitter. Damn she needed another imp to torture for moments like this. "And, rituals?" She raised a brow. "You mean the whole becoming half demon, half elf isn't the only ritual you- us- people do?"

"Before he joined the Illidari, Jace was a mage of no small talent. The fel corruption made it near impossible to use the arcane, so he learned how to convert souls into nether crucibles that allow us to see things far away." Fed up with her interrogation, the Commander walked down the ridge to upset more demons. He did continue to talk, however. "The other Commander, Allari- her Scythe is powered by souls and gives her a master over them. In fact, her scythe is stronger than these glaives I wield. To shorten this story; Anyhing the demons use souls for... we do as well. Except we do it in the name of killing them."

She made some mental notes. "Gotcha. Not a bad method, except the demons would know exactly how we work..." Akharis was following him like a puppy. She wasn't aware.

"It works the same way with them. They know all of our secrets. And we know theirs. We are always evenly matched instead of always disadvantaged."

"Right." She had wondered how the Illidari lasted so long against the Burning Legion. Not so favourable odds in the situation of numbers. Spotting more spider demons ahead, the elf stretches her limbs. "Guess it's back to fighting for us. I'll get used to this new power. Eventually. Probably."

"I'll let you claim their souls as well. Gives me a chance to watch how you are doing and to tell you what you're doing wrong."

The fire in her eyes lit up slightly, offended by the mention of her actions being wrong. Akharis bared her primal teeth at him and ran straight into the nearest group of enemies. It was easy enough to get into a groove of mindless and brutal slaughter when angered. Her fighting style, she realized, relied on her speed to dodge and parry attacks. It was the killing that took her a little while. It was almost like dancing. She would leap into the enemies and slash at them in whatever way she could, then elegantly twirl around as they were unable to return the favour. Unfortunately, it wasn't a perfect routine. Taking damage was inevitable and she didn't notice only because of the soul fragments being consumed with almost every kill. Once the group was dead, the elf turned around with a pleased look. The Commander didn't return it.

"And that's lesson one complete. Use your rage to fuel your fights. Thankfully it was easy to get you mad." There was the slightest hint of satisfaction on his permanently grumpy face.

Snarling like a wounded beast, Akharis threw a glaive at his neck. Without flinching, he simply caught it with one hand and that same unamused expression. Green blood started to pour down his hand and began to drip off of his wrist and onto the ground below. With each drop of blood, she got more nervous. Or perhaps it was her adrenaline. He shook his head, pried the blade out of his palm, and then tossed it at her feet. Without him having to say anything, her pride took another hit. She pretended his action didn't hurt her in the slightest by picking up the glaive and returning his earlier satisfied stare. Sure, he allowed her to get the wound on him, but it was still satisfying knowing she injured him. A fleeting thought reminded her of Malevolence's deal. How on Azeroth was she supposed to keep it when this man was just so grumpy and insufferable?

"You look pleased with yourself. Yet you forget that all I have to do is slay a demon and this 'wound' heals. Now, mind your temper, young lady. Use it against the demons and not your fellow Illidari. Because whatever strength you think you have will fail against anyone else in the Fel Hammer. Even more so against me." His tone was similar to a father scolding his daughter. _Not mad, just disappointed._

The lecture just angered her more. "What. Ever." She turned back and dived straight into the incoming horde of demons. The fighting allowed her to unleash full fury. Her battle cries consisted of; "FUCK THIS." and "EIGHTY BARRELS OF ALE!" or even "SHOW ME WHERE YOUR IMPS ARE SO I CAN TAKE THIS OUT ON THEM!" Eventually she ran out of rage and took a breather on a high-up rock. She glared at the demons below. It wouldn't be long before they spotted her and climbed up to meet their ends. The Commander was a little ways away, and seemed to be harvesting again. _Yuck._

"Ugh, maybe I shouldn't have done the whole mindless slaughter route." She sighed.

 _ **Yes, vapid mortal.**_ A sultry voice in her mind said sassily.

Akharis scrunched up her face and yelled. "Oh shut the fuck up, lady! Or did you want another death? Let's see... five hundred kills on my end and... you have zero. How will this one end?" No answer came. Finally, silence. Using the weight of her boots, she stood up and murdered a few demons that had clambered up to her. Knowing her strength was about to fail her at anytime, she hopped her way over to the Commander. She killed a few demons on the way to grab a few orbs or she'd prematurely fall down before reaching her destination. Once she reached him, her body almost betrayed her. "I-... I think I pushed myself too far." For the first time in a while, the truth escaped her. She didn't like to admit it, but it was better than being tortured by demons.

He turned around and briefly looked at her. She was panting, and nearly falling over from overusing her new abilities. He gave a nod and scooped her up. Sure, it was humiliating being carried by a man you dislike. But she couldn't deny feeling safe in his arms despite her weakened state. Once again, the silence was a blessing. A few moments later the Commander dropped her gently on a rock. Then he handed her a waterskin and a pouch of food. After that, he walked away to deal with the demon horde who were getting ever closer to the two. She heard explosions and cries of anguish as well as the occasional demon yelling "I AM OF THE LEGION!". Akharis wordlessly thanked him by downing the water instantly like a naga in a volcano. However, when she tried to eat, she found her strength drained more than ever. She couldn't manage more than a few nibbles before feeling nauseous. Fiery eyes dimmed, and her body slumped over, the mind emptied into the great dark.


	6. Chapter VI - Troubled Past and Future

Chapter VI; Troubled Past, But a More Troubling Future.

The Commander ripped his warglaive out of an eredar's chest as he scanned the bloody battlefield. His only company were the corpses and souls that lingered near them. For the first time in a while he felt exhausted. His weapons clanged loudly against the rock beneath him as he knelt down to take a breather. Age and mortality were slowly wearing him down, and he knew there would soon come a time where either he sees the end of the Burning Legion- or they see his own end. Step by step and groan by groan, he walked back up to the place where he had left the woman. Climbing around a stone, he expected to see her glaring at him in a drunken stupor... But she was instead unconscious. He began to mutter all sorts of curses and silently yelled at himself for bringing a fresh Illidari straight into a fight. Narruen picked up the comatose elf and half-jogged towards their felbats. It didn't take him long, but the two mounts had fought with each other and only one remained alive. Fantastic. Muttering more curses, he strapped the woman to the alive mount with some of the shredded leather from the dead one. In demonic, he gave the bat clear directions back to the Fel Hammer and promised it some treats if it did so. He slapped the saddle and the bat took off with the younger elf. Satisfied, he began to craft himself a makeshift camp until help arrived for him.

* * *

"Min'da, Min'da!" The voice of a small child pierced through the darkness around her. Akharis pretended it wasn't real until the voice got closer to her. "Min'da?" It was a young boy. She opened her eyes to see a pair of bright blue ones staring at her "An'da wants you!" The boy told her as he bounced around the room excitedly with his overflowing energy. She found herself staring for too long, wondering why her mind had brought her to the past. She got out of the bed with caution and searched the room vigorously. No demon appeared to be near, but she did not have her spectral sight to rely on in this dream.

"Sathelo?" She asked the young boy slowly. He turned, obviously confused on why his mother sounded so frightened.

"Yes, Min'da?"

Akharis couldn't hide a smile. Even in a dream, he was still her son. "Come here and let me carry you once more." He rushed over and into her arms. Lifting him up, she realized how small and tiny he was. So she took advantage of that and lifted him high above her head. Cheekily, he kissed his mother on the nose and grinned. "Where is An'da?" She asked her son who pointed at the floor before being placed on her shoulders. Downstairs. She exited the bedroom and walked down the wooden hall until she reached a ramp leading down. Her ears picked up on the sounds of a baby giggling. When she reached the ground floor, she saw why. A human man with long blonde hair tied into an elven-style braid was lifting up a baby girl. He wasn't looking at them yet. Akharis could only grimace in mental pain, so she took Sathelo off of her shoulders and plopped him on the ground. This dream was far too similar to her past. It had to be a trick by the Shivarra inside her. She couldn't trust anything that was about to happen.  
Her voice wouldn't escape her throat, but Sathelo had that covered. "I brought her!" He said cheerily and rushed off to see his baby sister. Akharis couldn't move any more. Was it fear? Or was she just stuck in a loop of the events about to play out? Either way, the man turned around to reveal himself as a human. He was handsome with a few scars on his pretty face from his past and... accidents.

"I'm glad you came down! She finally spoke her first word. It was unfortunately spoken in common, though." He sounded guilty.

Akharis just laughed. "Did she now? It that what you called me here for?" Thank Elune her voice had returned alongside her laugh.

He pretended to be hurt. "Well, yes! I, Elwood Mercierre, thought it was an important family announcement!"

"It is, it is..." She flocked to his side and took the baby from his arms. "So, your first word was...?"

The half-elven baby just giggled innocently in her arms before flopping her tongue out and reaching for her father. "I'm sure you'll hear it soon" He chuckled and then was reminded of something. "Oh- some of your flowers bloomed today!" He said softly with a smile as he took the child back. His blue eyes pierced her own. Gods it felt as though her heart was about to shatter right there. "They say it's a sign of love."

She rolled her eyes and walked over to the window to check on the garden. Sure enough, some of the brilliant flowers had bloomed into beautiful shades of red and white. A rare moment. The moment didn't last long.

A green light flashed in the distance causing a wave of alarm to erupt through her. Of course she remembered these final moments very well. **CRASH!** She rushed to her husband and children for Akharis knew it was demons. "Get to Astranaar!" She picked up her son and placed him on Elwood's -her husband- shoulders. Her body moved quickly, grabbing supplies and a cloak to wrap around the man. He was no fighter, whereas she had spent a whole human lifetime training for war. "Run!" She pushed him roughly through the back entrance of the house. Before he left the home, they shared a kiss. "Shaha lor'ma." Akharis told him as he ran for safety and help from the nearby city.

The Kal'dorei turned to her sentinel glaives, kept safely in their holsters until they were needed. The next few moments were silent as she unsheathed them. Then it happened. **BANG!** A loud sound thumped on her roof. She looked upward with fear as a large demon crashed right through it and tumbled down the ramp to where she was stood. Her only option was to stall it so her family could make it far enough. The demon revealed itself to be a felguard- large, muscled and wielding a two handed axe. She slashed into the felblood's flesh only to realize her attack barely did anything. Horrified and in shock, Akharis couldn't move out of the way as the axe hit her. She fell with a cry of pain. "THIS WORLD WILL FALL!" The demon roared with a deep, booming voice. She closed her eyes and awaited doom. It didn't arrive. Instead she was enveloped by a warm, bright light.

"Not so fast." The voice of Elwood made her eyes open in terror. He had lifted her up and out of harms way. All she could feel was the comfort and warmth of his touch. "I knew you'd try to do this." He sounded disappointed, though his tone was of love.

Akharis shook her head. "What about our children-"

"-Hidden." He responded quickly. "You know the place. Now go, they need you- Not I!" He placed her on the ground as he used his magic to create a barrier that held the felguard back. She gave a sad nod before running out of the home. Once outside, she heard a loud crash behind her. The fiery roof had collapsed. And there was no yell or shout from man or demon. She continued to run until finally-

She gasped for air, waking up from the dream. "I-" But alas, she was back to her half-demon self. She said nothing for a little moment while she thought about the events she re-witnessed. _Thank Elune I no longer have eyes... I'd surely be crying like a fool._ Akharis found herself on a stretcher in the fel hammer. Perhaps it would be a good idea to thank the man? No... He didn't deserve it.

Malevolence approached her with an odd expression on her pretty yet strange demoness face. "Where is our dear Commander?" She asked kindly.

Oh. "We were just below the fel hammer on a ridge fighting some spider demon army. So he's, uh, probably there." She mumbled it all halfheartedly.

"Oh, my." The Shivarra quickly summoned several of her own kind and instructed them to build a portal to the rocks below the ship. "Quickly now, we don't want to lose another Commander!" When the portal had formed, the Matron Mother waltzed through it herself and into the dark rocks below. She searched around effortlessly with the help of magic and upon finding the man in question by a makeshift campfire, she smiled. It only took her several strides to reach him. "Commander Narruen." She gave a bow.

He offered a half smile and held out an imp skull that he fashioned into a mug. "Tea, Matron Mother?" He gave a raspy chuckle that quickly turned into a coughing fit. "Damn spiders and their venom." He spat.

"No thank you, Commander. Now... How about we fix those wounds of yours?" She extended one of her many hands to the man who gladly accepted the help. She supported him all the way to the portal. Her waiting Shivarra pulled him through the portal and placed him on a stretcher. His last words before laying down, presumably unconscious, were something along the lines of 'Damn it, I didn't get to finish my tea...'.

Akharis watched the whole affair feeling nothing but guilt. She raised her hood to cover her face. Especially when the Commander was placed next to her. "I think we're both asses." She whispered to herself before looking up at the demoness. "What time would you say it is in Dalaran right now?" The trainee asked in a hushed tone.

"Around four in the afternoon... Why do you ask?"

"Heh. You'll see." She hopped off the stretcher. The elf wasn't feeling one hundred percent, but definitely a little better than she was before. Getting to Dalaran was easy enough- there were two portals leading out of the fel hammer. One led to Krasus' Landing, and the other at the Redoubt. She took the Krasus' Landing portal and walked around the magical, giant floating city until she found a tavern. No doubt they'd have what she needed. The Illidari entered. Nobody turned around to look at her. **Good**. Proudly stepping up the counter, she placed her last few gold coins. "Honey. Mint. Tea." She made sure to repeat it when the troll bartender gave her an odd look. He placed a large pouch of tea bags on the counter and took the coins. She sniffed it, just to make sure. It smelled heavenly. And much, much better than the fel garbage the Commander was drinking before. With her task done, the elf trudged back to the Landing. She approached a bunch of demon hunters at a felbat station.

"What do you want?" An enforcer glared at her. She lowered her hood to reveal her dinky little horns. With a smirk, the enforcer passed her the reigns to a bat. Akharis failed to roll her eyes as the man snickered at her. The bat took off toward the floating isle. It took less than a minute to touchdown. She pat it on the head before jumping off. Moments later, she was back in front of the demoness- who was of course very busy with healing the Commander. To get her attention, the elf very dramatically took a pose on the famed stretcher.

"I'll never walk again!" She swore loudly. Malevolence chuckled at the comment.

"Well, at least this one has a sense of humour." The demoness smiled at her.

"It's all I have left. Can't even roll my eyes anymore." She tightened the cloth over her eyes but leaved a hand over her face. "Does old Commander Grump have a room?"

The Matron Mother gave a standard nod, opening a small portal. "I can open a portal for you small creatures, but not myself. Please mind the clutter in there as he likes to bring his work with him!"  
Akharis continued her act by rolling through the portal rather than walking. Once she was in, however, she stood up to nose around the place. After spending around fifteen minutes ransacking the place, all that was found was a simple tea set. She retreated from the battlefield by placing the tea bags onto his desk. "Alright." She called back and turned around to see the Shivarra was watching her the whole time. "You. Saw. Nothing!" She mouthed to the demoness. "I'm keeping my end of the bargain."

Once she was out of the portal, the elf laid back on the stretcher. The demoness spoke with an added wink. "My lips are sealed."

Akharis just grumbled something cheeky before turning onto her side. She was sure all of the tasks and shite she went through so far was just a preliminary to something worse yet to come.

Hours went by and she was growing impatient as none of the other recruits had woken up yet. Nor the- _Never mind._ The Commander sat up and blinked a few times. Then he groaned painfully as he limped over to the crucible. She heard him mutter something about "Damned Demons." She definitely agreed. Rather than join him, she wandered over to a sleeping recruit. She didn't recognize the man, but cheered for him anyway.

"You've got this. You already killed it once." She whispered to him. The recruit didn't stop in his twitching or occasional cries of pain so she figured talking to him wouldn't speed up the process. When she turned around, Akharis saw the Commander talking to the demoness. _Oh gods, he's already going there? I'd better make my escape._ The young woman made her move over to the ashtongue she met before. But only after the Commander was out of sight. "Hey. Shrivelled Draenei. If he gets his own room then where do we-" She gestured to the half-dead recruits on the stretchers before resting a hand on herself. "-stay?"

Not taking too kindly to the insult, the stone-faced Draenei growled a response while he roughly pointed to the Redoubt portal. "The Redoubt until we clean out some of the rooms below."

Akharis gave an incredulous stare. "I'll be sleeping outside, you mean? With _the legion_ so bloody close to us?"

An enforcer walked by the trainee and scoffed. "Oh please, we at least have tents."

"Great, I suppose you have a campfire for roasting midsummer s'mores as well?" She just snapped back. "Fine I'll sleep in a darned tent. But I better have one to myself; I wont hesitate to kill any of you bastards!"

The ashtongue nodded and waved her away. Huh. Nobody refused my request. Making enemies with most of them was a good idea after all. Peace and quiet, here I come! She used the portal and opened her eye sockets to see several tents being pitched up already. Akharis approached one of the Enforcers pitching up a tent that was quite clearly not one for a single recruit to have. She smiled with malicious intent. "That one will be mine. Make sure to set it up carefully."

The enforcer just laughed cockily for a few moments. At least until he saw she was entirely serious. "And who gave you that right?"

"That shrivelled Draenei trainer. And..." Shit. Okay, okay... Let me think. "And your Commander. What was his name..." She put a finger on her lip in thought. "Oh well! I guess if you don't believe me I can go wake him up. He was rather sick though; I heard he took a new recruit on a culling mission that ended roughly.-"  
He shut her up. " No. That wont be necessary. I wont bother the Commander with something as lowly as this." Hah. Too easy! The man finished setting up the tent and strode off in a hurry. Akharis was about to check the inside of the tent when some movement caught her eye. A nervous Kal'dorei was being approached by some Illidari. They had their noses upturned at the woman. Oh man, did she know how that felt. Her body crept over before she could help herself and she listened in to the conversation.

"Alright- who let the Warlock step foot on our Isle?" An Illidari woman sneered.

The girls voice shook as she spoke. "I'm here to offer aid in any way that I can. I know warlocks and Demon Hunters have bad blood- so I'm here to show you that we want the same end goal of destroying the burning legion." None of the Illidari would meet her optimistic gaze.

"Out Commander is busy and we wont let your kind onto the fel hammer. Begone." A different enforcer laughed her off. Wow, almost as rude as myself.

Akharis shrugged and loudly interrupted the bullying. "She can stay with me until the Commander is free." She pushed the rude enforcer aside. She didn't dislike warlocks- just the demons they summoned.

The enforcer just shrugged. "Not on my hide."

"Good." She stated and then motioned for the woman to follow her. When the group of Illidari had dispersed, she began to talk. "So, you're here to show us sorry bastards you mean no harm?" She gave a side glance to the woman to try and get a good look at her. She had long pale hair and deep pink skin. Clearly a Kal'dorei.

"I am..." She followed the trainee carefully. "Thanks for your assistance.

"It's whatever." Her plan was really just to make everyone angrier at her by keeping the warlock around. They arrived at her large ass tent a few moments later. "This is my tent. I'm kind of a big deal so I obviously need a large tent to suit my immense ego. Guess you're stuck with me until our Commander stops brewing his darn tea- I mean, until he shows up."

"Tea?" The night elf perked up a little. "And I wouldn't say stuck with. You saved me back there- so I would much rather be in here."

"Yes. Tea." She didn't comment on the saving part since she only _'saved'_ her for her on benefit. Akharis held back the tent flap so the Warlock could enter. It was empty except for a few pillows and sleeping sacks. The Warlock entered and took a seat in the almost completely dark tent. The trainee didn't notice thanks to her recent access to spectral sight.

"I may have to bother your Commander for some, then."

"If felweed tea is something you enjoy then I'm sure you'll get along well with that son of- Ah. Perfect." She spotted a Shivarra getting ready to head through a the fel hammer portal. She walked over to it after calling out and waving to get the demoness' attention. "Could you get Malevolence to tell the Commander a Warlock is here to bridge the peace?" The Shivarra stared. Then walked through the portal. Akharis figured the Matron Mother had let them know about the deal. She returned to the tent. "So what do they call you?"


	7. Chapter VII Thrown Off The Isle

Chapter VII ; How To Get Thrown Off A Floating Island.

After briefly being told about the situation on the redoubt, Narruen let out a long and very pissed off sigh into his tea. Without wasting any time, he poured a second cup of tea and carried it through the two portals to reach the Isle. Moments later he arrived at the tent and savagely ripped it open. "Do you mind holding these for a moment?" He handed the two cups to the Warlock, interrupting the conversation between the two. The Warlock gave an awkward smile while she took them. Calmly, he grabbed the young recruit. "I'll be right back." He told the Warlock before dragging the recruit out of the tent by her hair.

In pain, Akharis started to yell. "A- Hey! OW! Stop, it was a joke! I was just seeing how far I could-" She looked towards the edge of the floating Isle in horror. _He can't possibly-_ Oh but he did. Once reaching the end, she was mercilessly thrown off the side of the redoubt. A loud scream went along with the fall. The last thing he heard was Akharis yelling "I SHOULD HAVE DIED EARLIER IF YOU WERE GONNA KILL ME NOW!" He walked back into the tent and sat down on a cushion.

Narruen took his cup of tea and drank a small sip before facing the clearly confused Warlock. She spoke first.

"I'm here to bridge the relationship between our people." She was evidently trying to be formal, though her intentions were clearly pure.

"There is no need for formality. I assume your order would like a simple truce or alliance until the legions inevitable defeat." He took another sip. "I thought it to be obvious for an alliance without a meeting." He shrugged.

"Oh, well... It is quite obvious, yes. But they- er, the Warlocks, don't trust Demon Hunters. They sent me as a test, really." She relaxed slightly.

"The feeling is quite mutual. However, we are fighting for a common cause. Feel free to tell them that we are willing to work with them, and that no harm will come their way." He paused before adding an afterthought. "If you have any requests or questions, feel free to ask."

She looked away and drank for a few seconds. "Will do."

"I hope you realize I mean right this moment while we are still enjoying our tea." Then he took a long sip that made her feel nervous. "Because after this I have to make sure that recruit survived being thrown off the Isle."

The Warlock just shrugged. "Well, um. Is there anything I can do to help around here?"

"No." Came the blunt reply after he set the teacup in front of himself. "Other than a ride off the island... is there anything _we_ can do for you?"

She blinked, then went to speak but pressed her lips together to think for a moment longer. "Nothing I can think of." She replied softly.

The Commander raised an eyebrow. "My eyes my be gone, and I may wear a blindfold, but I can see perfectly fine. Are you sure there isn't anything we can do for you?"

"There is..." She sighed. "I actually came here of my own free will. Mostly to prove a point to those stupid Warlocks that the Demon Hunters aren't just monsters in elven clothing. They don't expect me back alive so I gave up my life there to come here." The truth came out like a goblin flamethrower. Hot and fast.

"You've given us no reason to harm you. If anything, you are more alike to us than you know. You did just risk your life and sacrificed everything to prove a point." The permanent scowl on his face didn't relay that he was joking. He gave a slightly disappointed sigh. "So I guess that means the alliance was more so for you then. No matter. If you require a place to stay and practice your craft, you are free to do so here. But I will warn you now; you will be treated like one of us."

She just gave an accepting nod, but then gave another serious expression as if to admit a crime. Narruen patiently waited for her to spit it out. "I... can't actually summon. Well, I can summon one thing, but that's all. I took to the flames more than anything else." She admitted shyly.

"That's fine. We have our own way of summoning demons. I'll assume that means you're a destruction Warlock. That could prove useful when destroying legion ships." He was already imagining the chaos of fireballs raining down on the demon infested cruises. Suddenly, he stood up while he grabbed the teacup. "Alright. Like I said, you'll be treated like an Illidari. And I have high standards for my troops." He walked to the entrance and opened it to see a nervous enforcer. "Isn't that right, Tor'eth?" His voice was akin to venom at this particular enforcer that allowed Akharis to have the tent. The Commander almost chuckled when the guy stood up straight and saluted. He'd been thrown of the island before. Not something anybody would want to experience again.

The Warlock called after him. "I'll prove my worth one way or another!"

Narruen just shrugged. "Since Tor'eth here made a mistake that I've already fixed, feel free to keep the tent as a place to stay." The enforcer could feel his Commander's fel eyes burning into him as he talked. He knew what was coming.

The tent flap closed, and the last thing the Warlock saw was the Commander dragging the poor guard off. She heard yelling before an odd windy silence. Narruen, however, took the portal back to the fel hammer after throwing Tor'eth off the Isle as well. He only had a few jobs remaining for the day, so he kindly asked a Shivarra to portal him to the Black Temple, where his room was. She obliged after giving him an odd look. The Commander questioned it, but entered the swirling green magic anyways. Sure enough, his room looked like a bomb had gone off. All of his belongings and papers were scattered, so he picked them up after grumbling. Once he noticed the pouch of honey mint tea, he calmed down and for the first time in a while- gave a genuine smile.

The wind promptly cut off her voice, but she didn't have time to care about that. The ocean was coming ever closer and she could hear the disturbed waves crashing against each other below. With her heart beating faster than ever before, Akharis braced herself for a rough and deathly landing. But instead, the sound of waves were cut off by a gentle humming. And the harsh landing was replaced by a soft and plush one. She was definitely wasn't in the Broken Isle's anymore. Opening her blazing eyes allowed her to see that her landing pad was the Matron Mother herself. But the luxurious walls indicated that she wasn't in the fel hammer. "Oh." Came a mumbled reply. "You have my thanks."

"Any time, dear." The Matron Mother sighed. "You did go a little overboard with that tent scare, though. The Illidari do so hate it when their plans get ruined."

"You're telling me?! I was the one who got thrown off a floating Isle into the ocean! That ass!" Akharis grumbled.

Malevolence laughed. "He does that occasionally... I believe my Shivarra only failed to catch one of them as most Illidari can fly after all."

"Who does he think he is ending mortal lives like that?! The Illidari are so brutal..." The elf displayed an expression of pure disgust. "Of course I already knew that after they made me fight against a Mo'arg." She hopped out of the demoness' lap with a slight exhale.

"Well I don't think he was actually trying to kill you, dear, just to scare you into not ruining his plans again."

"Consider me more angry than scared." She growled at the demoness. "I do fear, however, that I will fail in our deal."

The Matron Mother laughed once more. "I wouldn't be too worried about that. In fact... You can have a drink whenever you come see me. Just don't get drunk in the fel hammer or we'll have to port you to Dalaran." She warned. But after that comment, some Shivarra entered the temple-like room with a bunch of barrels, crates and sacks of bottles. All were very alcoholic. Akharis felt the flame in her eyesockets grow brighter at the sight. Now that is hospitality! She proceeded to drink as many as her new body would allow her to. The great demoness observed with a small chuckle.

A few hours later, and Malevolence was quickly growing tired of the Illidari's drunk complaining. But at least this version of the elf was more honest than the sober one. Eventually, with a little magical push, Akharis passed out on the Shivarra's lap. "Oh my. Perhaps I shouldn't tell him about this." The demoness joked, placing a hand on her cheek in thought as she stared at the tiny mortal in her arms. "Alright, my priestesses." She called out to the several Shivarra awaiting her orders. "Let's get this little one a place to rest. Perhaps with some of the concubines? It can't hurt."

A Shivarra gently took the sleeping demon hunter to a bed in the middle of a large hall and placed her on it. There was about seventy other women in the room of several different races. They were resting on pillows. Or each other. Or doing some rather risky things. All were very beautiful and thinly clothed, if clothed at all. But Akharis was passed out and sleeping in a nice comfy bed and had no care in the world. With her job done, the Shivarra left and rejoined Malevolence's side in the main floor of the fel hammer.


End file.
